To grade poetry perfectly for different ages is an impossibility; much of the greatest verse is for all ages—that is one reason why it is great. A child of five will lisp the numbers of Horatius with delight; and Scott's Lullaby of an Infant Chief, with its romantic color and its exquisite human tenderness, is dear to childhood, to manhood, and to old age. But the Land of Song is a great undiscovered country to the little child; by some road or other he must find his way into it; and these volumes simply attempt to point out a path through which he may be led into its happy fields.

Our earnest thanks are due to the following publishers for permission to use copyrighted poems: to Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for poems by Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Holmes, Lowell, Aldrich, Bayard Taylor, James T. Fields, Phœbe Cary, Lucy Larcom, Celia Thaxter, and Sarah Orne Jewett; to D. Appleton & Co. for a large number of Bryant's poems; to Charles Scribner's Sons for two poems by Stevenson, from Underwoods, and A Child's Garden of Verse; to J. B. Lippincott & Co. for two poems by Thomas Buchanan Read; and to Henry T. Coates & Co. for a poem by Charles Fenno Hoffman.

The present volume is intended for the fourth, fifth, and sixth school years, or lower grammar grades. It is the second of three books prepared for use in the grades below the high school. As no collection of this size can supply as much poetry as may be used to advantage, and as many desirable poems by American writers have necessarily been omitted, we have noted at the end of this volume lists of poems which it would be well to add to the material given here, that our children may realize the scope and beauty of the poetry of their own land.

ONTENTS

PAGE
[Alice Brand][64]
[At Sea][60]
[Banks o' Doon, The][217]
[Battle of Blenheim, The][141]
[Battle of the Baltic, The][103]
[Beleaguered City, The][133]
[Belshazzar][221]
[Boy and the Angel, The][118]
[Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning][157]
[Burial of Sir John Moore][22]
[By Cool Siloam's Shady Rill][30]
[Calm on the Listening Ear of Night][93]
[Ca' the Yowes][81]
[Charge of the Light Brigade, The][89]
[Children in the Wood, The][71]
[Choral Song of Illyrian Peasants][125]
[Companionship with Nature][227]
[Concord Hymn][161]
[Coral Grove, The][63]
[Council of Horses, The][114]
[Coronach][200]
[Cricket, The][193]
[Daffodils][15]
[Daffodils, The][13]
[Death of Nelson, The][164]
[Destruction of Sennacherib][18]
[Dewdrop, The][207]
[Elixir, The][117]
[England][170]
[Epitaph on a Hare][112]
[Evening (John Fletcher)][150]
[Evening (John Keble)][206]
[Evening Wind, The][123]
[Exile of Erin][215]
[Farewell, A][152]
[Fidelity][108]
[Fine Day, A][35]
[Fisherman, The][211]
[For A' That, and A' That][69]
[Gladiator, The][228]
[Good-Night][207]
[Grasshopper, The][192]
[Graves of a Household, The][121]
[Green Cornfield, A][41]
[Hallowed Ground][145]
[Heritage, The][208]
[Hohenlinden][21]
[Holy, Holy, Holy][19]
[Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead][27]
[Honey-Bee, The][15]
[How Sleep the Brave][104]
["How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix"] [229]
[Hymn of the Nativity][234]
[Hurricane, The][175]
[Inchcape Rock, The][43]
[Incident of the French Camp][147]
[Ingratitude][57]
[Jock of Hazeldean][213]
[Jerusalem, the Golden][204]
[Kingdom of God, The][178]
[King John and the Abbot of Canterbury][126]
[Lady Clare][218]
[Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots][28]
[Life's "Good-Morning"][201]
[Llewellyn and His Dog][105]
[Lord Ullin's Daughter][211]
[Love of God, The][31]
[March][42]
[Monterey][162]
[Moonrise, A Selection][201]
[Morning][149]
[My Heart Leaps up when I Behold][37]
[New Year, The][237]
[Night][101]
[Noble Nature, The][179]
[Northern Seas, The][61]
[Ode to the North-east Wind][167]
[Oh! Weep for Those][17]
[O Mother Dear, Jerusalem][205]
[On a Favorite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes][197]
[On a Spaniel Called "Beau" Killing a Young Bird][78]
[On the Grasshopper and Cricket (Leigh Hunt)][111]
[On the Grasshopper and Cricket (John Keats)][110]
[O Wad Some Power][37]
[Pibroch of Donuil Dhu][24]
[Pied Piper of Hamelin, The][46]
[Pilgrim Fathers, The][84]
[Pipes at Lucknow, The][224]
[Planting of the Apple Tree][32]
[Quiet, Lord, My Froward Heart][149]
[Rebecca's Hymn][20]
[Rest][191]
[Revenge, The][143]
[Rhymed Lesson, A][82]
[Royal George, The][91]
[Ruth][116]
[Sailor's Wife, The][135]
[Sandalphon][231]
[Selection from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, A][155]
[Selkirk Grace, The][31]
[Shepherd's Home, The][77]
[Sheridan's Ride][172]
[Skylark, The][39]
[Soldier and Sailor][137]
[Soldier's Dream, The][26]
[Solitary Reaper, The][199]
[Song from the Lady of the Lake][216]
[Song of Marion's Men][99]
[Song of the Greeks][170]
[Song of the Sea, A][58]
[Song: "Orpheus with His Lute Made Trees"][151]
[Sound the Loud Timbrel][125]
[Spring][38]
[Stars][101]
[Storm, The][190]
[Summer Shower, The][36]
[Sweet Peas][80]
[Thy Voice is Heard Through Rolling Drums][148]
[To a Mouse][153]
[To a Waterfowl][202]
[To Daffodils][14]
[To the Cuckoo][40]
[To the Small Celandine][131]
[Union and Liberty][97]
[Upon The Mountain's Distant Head][16]
[Virtue][208]
[When All Thy Mercies, O My God][177]
[When Wilt Thou Save the People?][94]
[Winstanley][180]
[Wives of Brixham, The][86]
[Wren's Nest, A][194]
[Ye Mariners of England][163]